How do you...?

Hi,

I'm new here and not so computer savvy.

How do I get the British pound sterling character on my Macbook? Do I have to load in a whole new set of fonts? It's simple on my iPod Touch - wish it were as easy on my Macbook.

Thanks,

Bob M.

Push option+3.

I assume you didn't buy the MacBook in Britain

It should be shift 3 assuming you have set a British keyboard layout in  menu > system preferences > Language and Text > Input sources

To see which characters go with which keys, go to System prefs > language & text > Input sources > Check the box called "Show input menu on menu bar"

Now on your menu bar you will have an icon that looks either like a flag, either like a box with an * and dots in it. Click and hold, select "Show Keyboard Viewer".

With this, you can see what each key does. Press option to see the alternate characters, etc. As you can see, £ appears on the "3" key when you press option, assuming you have the U.S. layout.

Oh, well...

No, I bought my Macbook in Cambridge, Massachusetts (sorry, I should've said so).

By the way, I hit (pressed) option +3 like the poster Vansmith suggested and all of a sudden I was in Mapquest. Who knew??

Like I said, it's harder than it seems or should be.

Thanks,

Bob M.

Bob M. said:

By the way, I hit (pressed) option +3 like the poster Vansmith suggested and all of a sudden I was in Mapquest. Who knew??

Click to expand...

Not me . I did it here and all works perfectly fine. Make sure that you have a textbox selected though. If you don't, you may find that option+3 actually performs a specific function in the application that has focus (the application you're working with).

Bob M. said:

By the way, I hit (pressed) option +3 like the poster Vansmith suggested and all of a sudden I was in Mapquest. Who knew??

Like I said, it's harder than it seems or should be.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure I understand what you mean (if you were successful or not)...but when I do the key combination of "option" + "3"...I get "£". It's a 2 key combination...option + 3 (no plus sign).

If you're not getting it...I suspect "user-error".

- Nick

£ is what you are after? On a USA Mac it is Option+3. That is how I just made that at the beginning. If you purchased your Mac here in USA, that is the keyboard combo. You hold down Option and the 3 key at the same time.

And it's not harder than it should be. A USA computer does not use a Pound key stock.

Could this key combination be re-programmed to do something else? Even inadvertantly? Unfortunately, I had my Mac-genius nephew do some stuff to it and it's never been the same (worse).

Bob M.

Bob M. said:

Could this key combination be re-programmed to do something else? Even inadvertantly? Unfortunately, I had my Mac-genius nephew do some stuff to it and it's never been the same (worse).

Bob M.

Click to expand...

It is possible. You would have to go to:

- apple menu
- system preferences
- keyboard
- keyboard & text input

...then browse thru things to see if something was changed with the "option + 3" key combo.

HTH,

- Nick

Look at System Preferences, Keyboard, Keyboard Shortcuts and see if any application shortcuts have been programmed for Option + 3.

I think I see a 'restore default settings' in my future!

Does this happen in only one application or every application? If pushing option+3 opens Mapquest, it sounds as if option+3 is actually a key combination for that particular application. In what application did option+3 open Mapquest?